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Battle Tower
The Battle Tower is a section of the GPX+ website that allows users to pit their Pokémon in battle against other Pokémon. Unlike its earlier counterpart, the Vs. Seeker, the Battle Tower emulates Pokémon battling closer to its implementation in the video games, allowing users to challenge each other or computer-controlled trainers (referred to as non-player characters, or NPCs) in team battles for a variety of rewards. Nevertheless, there are a number of subtle changes from the mechanics of video game-based battle, implemented to help balance the battle system and reduce the complexity of team building while allowing for more flexibility in Pokémon choices. Battling By selecting the Start a battle tab, players are given a variety of options for challenging other users: Choosing Opponents Matchmaking: Two random users who have chosen this option and match the other criteria will be paired together in battle. When a match is made, the challenge icon (a speech balloon with a red exclamation mark) will appear in the Navigation Bar. Challenge another user: The challenger can enter a username to attempt to battle that user. If the user is online, visible, and can be challenged according to their privacy settings, the challenged user can either accept or reject the challenge. If accepted, the challenge icon will appear for the challenger; if rejected, the challenger cannot request to battle that user for the rest of the day. Level Range The challenger can choose among four different level bracket: 1-25, 26-50, 51-75, and 76-100. All Pokemon's stats are normalized within a level bracket such that a level 1 Pokemon would not be at a disadvantage to a level 25 Pokemon. Number of Pokemon The challenger can request either a 6-on-6 or 3-on-3 battle. Type of Battle Normal battles are similar to the most common battling type in the game; one Pokemon against one Pokemon at a time. Rotation battles are similar to Normal Battles but allow a liberal amount of switching. Player can switch and attack on the same turn, much like the Rotation Battles introduced in Pokémon Black and Pokémon White. Pokémon Users are able to move up to 18 Pokémon into the Battle Tower from anywhere they can access a Pokémon (such as the PC or Party), and can view all of them on the Battle Pokémon tab. This allows the user to quickly access the Pokémon and outfit them properly for battle, using a set of mechanics that has been simplified from those presented in the handheld and console games. Stats On GPX+, stats are only determined from Base Stats, IVs (Individual Values), and Nature; EVs, or Effort Values, are completely absent. The Base Stats are taken from the game coding in the main series games; those for Novelty Pokémon were generated by the staff. IVs are indicated in brackets on the Pokémon's summary screen; these are determined from the moment the egg is created. Nature behaves identically to how it is in the games. In an attempt to add balance to the battling system and increase the number of viable Pokémon choices, the base stats of all Pokémon are normalized depending on their evolutionary stage. Unevolved Pokémon are normalized such that the sum of all the base stats is 300; middle evolutions are normalized to a sum of 450, and final evolutions, as well as those that cannot evolve, are normalized to a sum of 600. Moves Pokémon have access to 23 different moves from the start; four corresponding to their elemental type(s), and 19 status moves. Equipping an elemental gem will grant them access to some of the moves corresponding to the gem's element. On GPX+, in addition to having types or classes (physical, special, or status), moves are classified as "Weak" or "Strong" depending on how much damage they do or how much of an advantage considered to give to the user. Strong moves are limited to three uses, and so a Pokémon must have at least one Weak attacking move in its moveset. Type Effectiveness Most of the Generation V Type Chart is preserved for the GPX+ Battle Tower, but a few changes were made for the sake of balance: * Poison is Super Effective against Bug (as it was in Generation I) * Normal is Super Effective against Ghost (instead of being Not Effective) * Although a glitch-type in Generations I and II, and removed from later games, the Bird-type (found exclusively on ) is functionally identical to the Flying-type in its weaknesses and resistances. * All other Types Immunities are treated as being Doubly Resistant to the attacking type. For example, a Ghost Type attack would be 1/4 Effective against the Normal Type. Battle Tower Items Pokémon in the Battle Tower can use a variety of items to grant them access to more moves or provide various advantages against their opponents. Since many of the traditional hold items are used for other purposes on the site, the current pool of GPX+ hold items is small, but still allows for a variety of strategies to be employed. Battle Tower Items were obtainable from the Easter Contest in 2011 and, prior to September 29, 2011, as rewards for placing in the weekly Pokémon Hunts. Currently, they can be purchased from the Prize Shop, awarded for winning battles on the Battle Subway, or obtained from various Achievements. Gems Equipping a Pokémon with a Gem will add the two Weak moves of the Gem's type to its movepool. A Pokémon cannot be equipped with a Gem whose type is Super Effective against the Pokémon; for example, Bulbasaur cannot equip a Flying Gem. All Gems cost 5 Prize Points each. Choice Items The Choice Band, Choice Scarf, and Choice Specs provide a 50% (+1) boost to a Pokémon's Attack, Speed, or Special Attack, respectively, but locks a Pokémon into using the first move selected in battle. If the user selects a Strong attack, he will be able to switch to a Weak Attack once the Pokémon's PP is used up. Switching the Pokémon out from and back into battle will allow the user to choose a new move. Choice Items cost 10 Prize Points each. Quick Claw The Quick Claw occassionally allows the Pokémon holding it to move first. The exact percentage of activation is unknown. Leftovers A Pokémon holding a Leftovers will recover some of its HP at the end of a turn of battle. The Leftovers costs 10 Prize Points. NPCs NPCs are computer-controlled "trainers" that have pre-defined teams of 3 or 6 Pokémon that a user can challenge at any time, often with a 1-hour cooldown between matches. Aside from a reliable source of experience, the NPCs help demonstrate the mechanics of the Battle Tower and provide different challenges for the user to test their teams. The GPX+ staff has also expressed interest in using NPC trainers as exploration tasks; the first one was introduced in the "A Ripple in Time" exploration, with more to come in the future. Defeating Exploration Trainers doesn't yield any experience or physical rewards, instead allowing users to continue with the exploration. Permanent NPCs Exploration NPCs Battle Subway Introduced on July 29, 2012, the Battle Subway is a subsidiary of the Battle Tower that allows users to battle an endless streak of Pokémon teams created by other users, but controlled by the computer, making them identical in function to NPCs. Team mechanics Users may submit teams of 9 Pokémon, 6 of which are selected at random when the NPC is called upon to battle. When creating a team, the user is presented with the following options, in addition to the choice of the Pokémon they select to be used for their team: *The name of the user's team. *The Trainer's description. *The messages that appear when the NPC begins the battle, loses the battle, wins the battle, or has only one Pokémon left. Messages are not constructed of pre-determined text; they may pertain to whatever the user desires their NPC to "say". *A selection of sprites from the canonical Pokémon games (from ''Diamond and Pearl ''onwards) to choose for the appearance of the NPC. This function is purely for aesthetic effect and has no influence on the battle itself. Pokémon To qualify to be added to a Battle Subway team, a Pokémon must be at Level 100 and at its final evolution stage. Pokémon that do not evolve into nor from another Pokémon (e.g. Tauros) are exempt from this rule; regardless, they may still be used as part of a Battle Subway NPC team, provided they are Level 100. Once chosen as part of a Battle Subway team, the Pokémon, which will retain all moves and keep all held items, are "cloned" to become part of the NPC itself, rather than stationed in the Battle Tower. When the user makes their selection of the Pokémon they will use for their team, they are presented with a list of all fully-evolved Pokémon at Level 100 that they own in alphabetical order, along with the following information for each Pokémon: *Species *Menu sprite (if the Pokémon is shiny, its menu sprite will reflect as such) *Held item (if the Pokémon is in possession of one, its sprite will appear below the menu sprite) *Nickname (if the Pokémon has one, it will appear in place of the species name) *Nature *Known moves *IVs and stats *Elemental type or types Battle Subway tab When a user battles an NPC, they have the option to view additional information pertaining to it through the Battle Subway tab. Information available on NPCs to be viewed by other users includes: *The NPC's sprite *Name *Description *Win/loss record *Score *The user who submitted the NPC Additionally, the user is able to keep track of their own teams through this tab and edit their team's sprite, description, and messages, or disable/delete their teams if they wish to do so. Battles A battle in the Battle Subway between a user and an NPC functions much like an ordinary battle. The NPC will give their "battle commence" message at the start of a battle. From there, the battle may end in one of four outcomes: *If the player wins, the NPC displays their "I lost" message. The player's Pokémon are rewarded with experience (if the player is in possession of an Exp. All, 75% of the experience gained will be received by the Pokémon in the player's party as well), and the player is allowed to continue with their streak. The message "Your streak is currently at number!", appears, referring to how many battles the player has won consecutively up to that point, and the next NPC automatically appears to challenge the player. *If the player loses, the NPC displays their "I won" message. Experience is rewarded in the same manner, but the player's streak ends, and the message "Your streak ended at number!" appears. After this, the player may close the battle window and begin a new Battle Subway session if they wish. *If the player forfeits, it is automatically classified as a win for the NPC. *If the battle ends in a stalemate, the player's streak ends as well should they choose to end the battle. However, this resolution is not classified as a loss for the player. The NPC will give no message. Battle Subway restrictions *Pokémon under Level 100, unevolved, or only partially evolved are ineligible to be used in a Battle Subway NPC team. *Vulgar language and nonsensical gibberish are not permitted to be used when entering an NPC's name, description, or displayed messages. *A maximum of 5 NPC Trainers created by one user may be active at a time. *Once submitted, the Pokémon on a Battle Subway NPC team cannot be changed. *Users are forbidden to submit teams containing identical combinations of nine Pokémon. Rewards A user's victory against a Battle Subway NPC has a chance of yielding any of the following items. Battle Items * An elemental gem *A Choice item (Choice Band, Choice Specs, or Choice Scarf) *Leftovers *Quick Claw Vitamins Introduced with the advent of the Battle Subway, the six types of vitamins raise a Pokémon's specific IV by one when fed to the Pokémon. However, an individual Pokémon may only receive six vitamins in total. IVs may not exceed a value of 31. In the user's inventory, they are classified as Miscellaneous Items instead of Battle Items. If a Pokémon already has the maximum of 31 IVs in one stat, it cannot receive a vitamin for that stat. *HP Up (increases HP IV) *Protein (increases Attack IV) *Iron (increases Defense IV) *Calcium (increases Special Attack IV) *Zinc (increases Special Defense IV) *Carbos (increases Speed IV) Battle Tower upgrades Upon reaching a streak of 75 consecutive battles in the Battle Subway, a user will be rewarded with one of two different upgrades, both classified as Account Upgrades in the user's inventory: *The Exp. All is automatically awarded to a user the first time they win 75 consecutive battles. It shares 75% of the experience gained from the Battle Tower and Vs. Seeker with the Pokémon in the user's party. *If the user is already in possession of the Exp. All, they will be awarded with a Battle Expansion the second time they win 75 consective battles. It allows the user to station nine more Pokémon in the Battle Tower. This upgrade can be obtained a total of four times. Category:Site Mechanics Category:Navigation Category:Battle Tower